My Journey with Multiple Sclerosis

Every journey starts with a single step.
My journey started "officially" in March 2006. Now, six years into my journey, I often find myself amazed at how this disease taught me a lot....about me. I find the hot air balloons a perfect representation of my journey, with all it's ups and downs....I still soar.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Just wrapped up a busy day. Shopping for an anniversary gift for hubby, then the last night of Lent bible study. Rushed home to run protocols. Still learning to balance running programs with life. Missed my 1p.m. time as I wasn't home. So I got home at 4:30, ran a program, went to church...got home and just finished running more programs. Payng for not keeping to the schedule. My back pain is worse than it has been for the past week :( My own fault though.

Thanks to Muff for the author suggestions! Wish you could make it to Texas. Hopefully someday this treatment will be widely available to everyone AND covered by insurance! I know it's turned out to be an absolute blessing for me in regrds to my pain, sleep and MS symptoms. TIme will tell if it helps prevent exacerbations....but you can bet I'll keep you posted!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Another day is drawing to close. I just finished running my last protocol of the day. The new machine is working wonders for me. I wish you each could come over and try it! I have found it takes care of my left leg neuropathy better than any dose of Neurontin. My right knee pain is almost non-existent. I'm sleeping MUCH better and even my back pain is more manageable.

It's doing a great job of managing the SYMPTOMS of my MS. Of course the real test will be determining if I have fewer exacerbations while using the machine. I've been experiencing exacerbations about every 4-5 months. I just had one right before I went to Texas to get the machine. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the machine is actually able to help control the actualy disease process of MS. Time will tell.

I'm still learning how to juggle my everyday activities and running the machine every 4 hours. Seems there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. It can be a bit frustrating to have to plan everything around running my protocols, but the benefit far outweighs the frustration.

Another thing the machine forces me to do is RELAX. It means that at least three ties a day I am forced to be still for 1.5 hours. I Read, doze or watch TV while I'm running the protocols. So, if anyone has read any good books lately let me know!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Yeah to being home! Although yesterday wasn't much of a day of rest. We had too many errands to run after me being gone for a week. Today is Church and more errands. At least I was in bed early last night and got to catch up on some sleep.

Learning how to manage my time with running programs three times a day. Set the alarm for 6 this morning so I could get one program in before 8 am mass. Will run another when I get home and before I go to Vestry. Then we have errands to run. So it will be evening before I can catch up.

My knee feels great. Minimal if any pain there at all. My back pain is there, but much more tolerable than without the machine. My balance is better as well. I'm seeing huge strides as week one comes to a close. Can't wait to see how I'll feel at the end of next week!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Yesterday was my travel day home. So, no time to blog. Left the hotel at 7 am Texas time and didn't get home till 3 am Texas time. LONG flippin day. Only programs I ran all day we're the ones at the clinic in the morning. Needless to say by the time I got home not only was I totally exhausted, but hurting as well.

Ran programs as soon as I woke up this morning which helped take the edge off the knee. Going to work on the back this afternoon. I''m so glad to be home! I'm very tired today so I don't have any plans to do anything but rest.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

OK...I'm going try to explain what the treatment is I'm getting in short, sweet terms.
The VT-200, or Vecttor system, delivers electrical stimulation, through electrodes, on accupressure points on my hands, feet, arms and legs to provide symptomatic relief of chronic pain.The machine determines the right stimulation intensity by automatically measuring my body temp through two specially designed Thermistors that are on my fingers during testing. The Thermistor monitor my skin temp. The VT-200 delivers four channels of current through the two treatment leads and 8 electrodes that are on my hands/feet, arms/legs according to whatever treatment protocol I'm running. They do not stimulate muscles. They stimulate nerves. It is completely painless. In fact I don't feel ANYTHING during my treatments. I doze, read or chat.

Day four over and done. I feel pretty darn good. Doc added two more protocols to my treatments. Means I'll be running the machine three times a day instead of just two. Fine with me. It's working and I feel SO much better. He evan gave me a protocol to run next week after I see the dentist! WOW!

I've asked Doc to give me a written explanation of exactly how the machine works so I can post it on here. All I know is it's working and I feel like a different person.

Tomorrow we'll be re-doing some of the testing we did Monday so we have actual numbers to measure my improvement. I'm especially interested in the Vibration Perception Threshold (VPT). (This test indicates whether or not the large sensory nerve endings in the feet are functioning within normal limits. Elevated VPT numbers indicate dysfunction of these nerve endings which will cause problems with balance, coordination, and walking. The VPT numbers are always out of whack with MS patients). My number we're seriously messed up. Will be interesting to see if the VPT test shows what I think it will. My balance is starting to improve!